THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



103 



to find out anything about range or land conditions 

 excepting for contact with individuals representing 

 vested interests who made it their business to meet him 

 here and there on his journey and bring their views 

 on the subject directly before him. It can be readily 

 seen that the representatives of vested interests would 

 be more likely to get in contact with Mr. Garfield than 

 would the settler whose interests are vital and at 

 stake. THE IRRIGATION AGE does not presume to rep- 

 resent any of the range interests but it proposes to take 

 the part of the man who is to make a home. The irri- 

 gation and dry farmer whom we represent, rather than 

 ihe owner of live stock, needs protection. This class 

 is not able to have organizations to represent them. 

 They are scattered throughout the country and cannot 

 come together. They are not men of wealth and as a 

 rule not men who study conditions or try to formulate 

 laws and regulations for their own relief. This ele- 

 ment must be depended upon for our ultimate perma- 

 nent growth. We do not deny but that the live stock 

 interests need protection and fully believe that they 

 have a cause which should receive the attention of our 

 law makers. They have produced what wealth is rep- 

 resented in some of the thinly peopled sections of the 

 west today and stand, as a rule, among the best class 

 of citizens. They see the day coming when the open 

 range business must give way to the farm and the small 

 live stock interests.' Our readers, generally, throughout 

 the west are requested to write us and give us their 

 views concerning the situation as they see it. If an 

 injustice is being done to the small farmer, let us get 

 together and explain the situation through the columns 

 of THE IRRIGATION" AGE. It is only through publicity 

 of this character that the small man may receive the 

 attention which is his due. 



Much speculation has been rife during the 

 Controversy past few weeks, due to a clash between 

 Between plant investigators of the United States 

 Authorities. Department of Agriculture and those 



whose time, efforts and money are being 

 devoted to the exploitation of the spineless cactus as a 

 means of rejuvenating the deserts of the Southwest. 

 In bulletin No. 116, entitled "The Tuna as Food for 

 Man," the United States Department of Agriculture 

 has placed itself on record as antagonistic to one of the 

 greatest plant industries of the age. This bulletin says 

 in part: "Enthusiastic magazine writers would revolu- 

 tionize conditions in arid regions by the establishment 

 of plantations of prickly pear wthout spines, thus con- 

 verting the most arid deserts into populous, prosperous 

 communities. Experience teaches, however, that the 

 spineless varieties of cultivation are not hardy under 

 natural desert conditions, that all of the valuable spine- 



less species which produce either fruit or forage in eco- 

 nomic quantities require considerable precipitation at 

 some time during the year, and that the economic species 

 are not known which thrive under a minimum tempera- 

 ture of less than 10 F. One exception to this may be 

 noted, but the quantity of stock feed produced by this 

 species is comparatively small and its distribution lim- 

 ited." 



This paragraph directly concerns Mr. Luther Bur- 

 bank and his colleagues, whose work in developing the 

 spineless cactus has passed the experimental stage. 

 Those of us who are privileged to know Mr. Burbank are 

 forcibly impressed with the modesty of the man whose 

 creations have had so great a bearing on the agricultural 

 and horticultural world, and yet about whom so little is 

 known. As commercialism and self-glorification play 

 no part in Mr. Burbank's work, one would naturally 

 give credence to any statement of fact made by him 

 when he relates what he has actually accomplished in the 

 new cacti produced, the perfection of which is the re- 

 sult of sixteen years of propagation. The progress of 

 his work in developing an economic Opuntia is to be 

 found in the records of the National Irrigation Con- 

 gress, held in Sacramento on September 5 last. The 

 following sentiments from Mr. Burbank's speech will 

 give our readers a fair idea of the present status of the 

 culture. 



The term thornless cactus is quite indefinite, for it 

 is no more of a novelty than thornless watermelon; 

 however, among the cacti growing to immense size with 

 corresponding rapidity and co-relative latent possibili- 

 ties, there were none devoid of thorns until now. 



The Opuntias present the greatest commercial pos- 

 sibilities of the cacti. Burbank's farms have produced 

 spineless Opuntias having three to four times as much 

 weight of food per acre as their thorny wild parents. 

 Also some of the improved Opuntias can stand five to 

 ten degrees more freezing than others which are wild. 



The Opuntia is by all means the hardiest, most 

 rapidly growing, prolific and adaptable to conditions of 

 moisture, temperature and soil of all the great cactus 

 family. 



At least one crop of very delicious fruit is borne 

 each year, to say nothing of the quantity of fodder 

 developed in a single season. The Opuntia is all food 

 or fodder. 



While due consideration is given to the value of the 

 delicious fruits of the improved Opuntia, the prime issue 

 is that of supplying a dependable forage crop for arid 

 regions. It is found that all herbivorous animals relish 

 the cactus, and can, of course, eat the spineless Opuntia 

 without fear of the results brought about by the thorn. 

 They will support animal life without other food, and 

 when fed as part of a balanced ration will produce beef 

 and mutton. 



